'Solo agers' are a growing group. Changes that would help them could help everyone
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On the whole, Resendez says, U.S. society is still hooked on the idea of "individual ruggedness." But as he looks to the future, "More and more people will be aging, more and more people will be aging alone," and the social safety net will come under a lot of strain. "I think it's when we are at that boiling point, that maybe we'll have policymakers finally recognize, 'Hey, this isn't just an individual responsibility.'"

Creating the resource he will need

Carl Smigielski was a family caregiver to his husband, Moshe, a Vietnam veteran who died in 2019 after living with Alzheimer's for several years.

But Smigielski doesn't expect to have a caregiver of his own. He's 61, lives alone in Richmond, R. I., and believes it'll stay that way. "Right now it wouldn't align with me to have another intimate relationship so I was pretty clear," he says. "You're going to be doing this alone."

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